Environmentalists and activists have been fighting projects proposed for the former Eagle Mountain mining area, south of Joshua Tree National Park, for decades. Just when it seemed the land was safe from a garbage dump, the National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management have stepped in to transfer the

The National Park Service is exploring the feasibility of expanding the Joshua Tree National Park boundary to include as much as 32,000 acres near Desert Center in Riverside County. The area in question is bounded on three sides by the park and once belonged to Joshua Tree National Monument, but

The fate of land that was once removed from the then-Joshua Tree National Monument for mining, and almost became home to a huge landfill, and still could host a hydroelectric project, is up for discussion. Reporter Dan Stork says the public is invited to join the conversation in Joshua Tree…

Morongo Basin residents will be able to give their input in person at a meeting held by the National Park Service on whether it’s appropriate and feasible to add the Eagle Mountain area back within the boundary of Joshua Tree National Park. Managing editor Tami Roleff explains how the public

The Eagle Mountain area, which is bordered by Joshua Tree National Park on the north, south, and west, has survived an attempt to turn it into a landfill, only to be face a new a proposal to convert it to a hydroelectric power plant. The area is an important migration

The Eagle Mountain area and Chuckwalla Valley in Riverside County comprise 32,000 acres, two-thirds of which is managed by the Bureau of Land Management. These areas are surrounded by Joshua Tree National Park on three sides, and were a part of Joshua Tree National Monument until 1950 when they were

The proposal to turn the former Eagle Mountain iron mine into a hydroelectric power plant is one step closer to reality. Eagle Crest Energy Company announced Wednesday, July 1 that it purchased the former mining site on the southeast border of Joshua Tree National Park from Kaiser Ventures, which developed

A 28-year legal battle over the use of the former Kaiser Eagle Mountain Iron Mine property is over. United States District Judge Robert Timlin ruled December 18 that the 2,846 acres of land be returned to the public, setting aside a planned land exchange and any further development plans for

The Desert Protection Society, an activist group that grew out of the fight against the now-dead plan to create an immense landfill in the Eagle Mountain area, has recently been engaged on two fronts in the same area. Reporter Dan Stork reports that both state and federal agencies are taking

Although the Eagle Mountain mega-dump plan is legally dead, legal wrangling continues over usage of the Eagle Mountain area, most recently with regard to a hydropower project that was granted a federal license. Reporter Dan Stork says another front has been opened by activists… Monday, the Desert Protection Society issued

Last month, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted a license for the Eagle Crest project, which plans to pump Chuckwalla Valley water into pits in the Eagle Mountain area during low energy usage periods, and release it during high-demand times to generate electricity. Dan Stork says that a legal shoe

The Eagle Mountain landfill project is dead, but another massive project has desert residents, environmentalists, and some government agencies up in arms. According to a story in Friday’s Desert Sun, a controversial plan to build a hydroelectric plant in the open pits of an old iron mine was granted a